Community Update on the Catonsville Co-op

As you will begin to see in coming days, progress is being made! Our newsletter is being refurbished, as is our website, to more accurately outline the steps we have taken and still need to take. We have had some new volunteers step up, and welcome anyone else who wants to help out. The last 30 minutes of our Steering Committee meetings will be devoted to volunteer activity. Interested parties will be kept updated on meeting dates and volunteer opportunities by email. Facebook access is beneficial, but not essential.

We plan to use this blog to answer the community's questions about the co-op, and to keep everyone updated on our progress. Voting is still open on our Facebook page for the name of the co-op. If you have not voted yet, please do! We will close the poll on Friday. Once the name is finalized, we will ask the community for professional-grade logo submissions, and allow our members to vote on a favorite (details to come). The focus will be our motto: "Sustainability, Accessibility, Affordability".

In the near future, we will begin conducting a community survey and feasibility study. These will guide us on size and scope of the market, budgeting for workforce, inventory, and store fixtures. Any interested Catonsville resident will be invited to take the survey. The results of this survey and study will be discussed at another General Interest Meeting this summer. We will also be formally incorporating and adopting bylaws at that time. It is reasonable to expect the need for professional services, either donated or paid. If you are interested in donating legal services, or know someone who is, this will meet a current need.

We will be offering full Founding Memberships very soon. Our ultimate goal for member equity is 1,000 members (at $100-$200 per membership) within 2-3 months of opening a storefront.  Ideally, 300 members would be in place by December 31, 2012. We would then hope to add 150 members every 3-6 months, in order to open a viable, sustainable business within the next 3 years.  This cooperative will be financed only in part through membership and will also need to be able to secure small business financing, grants and member loans.  Ultimately, we are looking for total sources to be around $1.5 million.

In the immediate, we need use of a donated or very inexpensive commercial space (church basement, unused office, empty storefront) in order to expand our buying club fundraiser. This space would need room for a sorting table and some shelves, and would need to be accessible for deliveries. We would not need daily use, twice weekly and some storage would be sufficient. If you know of such a space, and are willing to facilitate arrangements, please let us know. 

Our volunteers look forward to the next several months of growth, research, and networking so we can focus on fundraising this spring and summer. Local farmers, food producers, and artisans can count on our cooperative support. We are eager to see this community-owned business come to life and to bring a unique, sustainable shopping experience to our neighbors.

Please email any questions to catonsvillemarket@gmail.com.